CREDIT: STEPHEN PAAR
ENERGY IN FOCUS
Why scale changes the game For TfL, sustainability is inseparable from service quality.“ Safety, customer experience and reliability are absolutely key and all those things come together to make people want to use the network which, ultimately, is the most sustainable way to get around London – so we want to maintain that,” Dan says.
“ It’ s also really important as a public sector organisation that we are a completely open book. There is lots of public reporting and there is public scrutiny, which we really welcome and you could look at any of the number of reports to track that.”
TfL is the largest consumer of electricity in the London area, and a top 10 energy consumer in the UK. Electricity accounts for about 45- 46 % of the company’ s operational emissions, so when the Therapia Lane depot retrofit was designed, it wasn’ t just about eliminating fossil fuels – efficiency had to play a big part too. As Dan says:“ The energy you don’ t have to use is the best type, right?”
TfL signed a contract with EDF Renewables in 2025 to cover up to 5 % of the company’ s supply for 15 years via the National Grid. Meanwhile, a contract agreed earlier this year with SSE Energy / Energy Solutions seeks to deliver solar within the London area, which will directly power the Tube. For a company with such significant energy demand, long term contracts such as these support the integration of renewable energy into TfL’ s long-term planning.
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